Tranquil Territory
by LHFan
Summary: A Log Horizon fanfic about non canon characters on the Japanese ET server. This is a teaser - I will continue writing if the sample provided wets interest. Focusing on role players (rather than general players) and the people of the land. Features roleplay subclasses heavily (including Feudal Lord).
1. Prelude

**Tranquil Territory – 0 – Prelude**

"How could- how dare you do this Yasuo!" The gorgeous green-eyed man struggled to get past the six guards in mismatched and poorly fitted armour who barred his way – two had crossed spears to prevent the silvery white enchanted wyvern leather garbed warrior's from approaching their new lord. The armour glistened like the snow which dusted the battlements upon which they stood overlooking the renovation of the outer walls of the recently seized 'Stardust Fortress'.

The black clad samurai, newly inaugurated lord of the fortress continued to watch the progress below with both gratitude and admiration; without turning towards the disruption, he instead waved one gauntleted hand towards the struggling group, indicating to the guards that they might allow the angered swashbuckler to proceed. It was an almost dismissive gesture – had he realised that he may well have avoided using it – yet when the six relented he noticed from the corner of his dark brown eyes that they did so with some slight show of reluctance. Though unexpected it was an encouraging sign - it was early days yet and their loyalty remained uncertain; still perhaps these men had dared to hope – to place their trust in their new Lord.

The irate swashbuckler stalked forwards, his white streaked black spiked hair stirred slightly in the wind - yet as it defied gravity, so too did it defy the wind, resuming position without pause. As he neared the slightly taller but more thinly built Yasuo and grasping him by the ebony plated arm, half turning him. "Damn it have you lost your mind brother?"

"You forget yourself. Here I am not Yasuo but instead Hachiman; just as you are not Yukio but rather Byakko." With his height advantage he looked down towards his elder brother, Hachiman smiled sadly yet in his angular face the intense dark brown eyes were uncompromising beneath wild black eyebrows, "Here lies a festering wound in the land – the weakness of the Ezzo Court and the short-sightedness of Akihabara are no excuse for the madness that has swept south from Susukino." As he gestured with his other arm towards the expanse to the north the wind picked up for a moment, winter had come early this year – though it was still supposedly autumn the chill wind coursed down across the sea and over the plain stirring his long loosely bound black hair, flecked with gold and silver. The gentle smile eased the harshness of his visage yet it could not soften the path he had taken nor how others would see it.

All around them the clean-up of Stardust Fortress was under way, two score Adventurers busied themselves with their assigned tasks while nearly five hundred People of the Land did most of the heavy lifting. Sound echoed from hammers and chisels and saws, raucous workmen and the clamour of morning practice where the newly formed militia clashed in combat under the careful gaze of a retired Imperial drill sergeant and the three adventurers who were assigned to assist him.

Their numbers had swelled faster than any had believed possible; refugees streamed in from the north every day, few made it from as far as Susukino because of the excesses of Brigandia's murderous thugs, instead the surrounding villages had been nearly emptied as the locals scattered in search of refuge. Some had fled to the north or east, seeking the aid of the Ezzo Empire to save them from the Adventurer threat, others had fled to the west and south, which led them down towards the end of the peninsula. As the terrified refugees had travelled south, news of the menace to the north had spread and what had been a trickle of the desperate had become a veritable flood. Yet the Lyport channel was still closed and so they were unable to flee further - milling in fear and growing desperation.

They had at first distrusted Hachiman and his guild, Tranquil Territory – yet their offer had proven too tempting to resist. The very next day the 'Stardust Fort' zone had been assaulted, the undead crushed under foot and a new banner rose in the southern reaches of the Ezzo Empire; a green and blue mitsudomoe - the green three-pronged whirl on a blue background – the symbol of the Feudal Lord Hachiman and the newly formed fiefdom Tranquil Territory.

Reaching out gently, Hachiman placed his black gauntlet atop the white leather glove which gripped his arm, pressing the double ring he wore on his index finger against his brother's hand gently – though firmly enough to make the gesture clear. He spoke softly though the heat in his voice was clear despite the biting cold of that autumn morning. "I will not suffer fools to unleash brutes upon the helpless, brother. I cannot stand aside and allow them to be crushed by an immortal, unrelenting tide of despair. Even if you disagree with my methods and cannot support our cause – we will stem the tide." There was an implacability, a finality in that tone that would brook no resistance and could tolerate no other outcome – they would bring Tranquillity to the land.

Behind them the guards stirred, though quickly fell still when Hachiman looked in their direction, their faces once more unreadable; the six were each People of the Land, the civilian NPCs of Elder Tales, in truth little stronger than the farmers, artisans or merchants that one might find in the streets, they were at least armoured though their equipment was an assortment of the ill-fitting, the rusted and the poorly mended while their weapons crude beyond belief – had Byakko been serious about passing them by, he could have sent the six flying without pause - yet still the six were noteworthy.

Hachiman's small guild could achieve nothing on their own - everything rested on the shoulders of these fine men and the hundreds more who had hastened to his banner, desperate for some sense of security. The blue and green banner stirring fitfully in the sea breeze was drawing new supporters every day - for most, the words of fealty they spoke were nothing but a shift in the yoke they wore, formerly they had laboured under the Ezzo appointed administrator murdered by one of the Adventurers running riot in the north; now instead they would labour under the self-appointed ruler who stood atop the battlement - another Adventurer.

Few among these new subjects truly believed in the cause - even those who had been saved first hand doubted the motivations that drove the Adventurers in their formation of the Tranquil Territory. That would need to change.

* * *

Author's Note:

Added more detail to description of Hachiman and Byakko (to avoid discontinuity when readers form an image of the characters in their mind which does not match the description of the characters as described in later chapters). I also added some more description about construction and the militia training, to flesh it out a bit.


	2. Apocalypse

**Tranquil Territory - 1 - The Apocalypse**

The panicked din filling the tavern above echoed down the stairs of the basement rank with the smell of fear and despair. Gathering around a table in the underbelly of Akihabara, they had barely managed to form some semblance of self-control before arriving – some had yet to manage even that much – but the small role play guild Tranquil Territory had managed to gather their most powerful core members quickly – each of the six were members of the central high level core of the guild – in the hours before the update they had been in Akihabara completing a local dungeon run.

The faces on the small gathering in that cramped room ranged from the finely featured yet despondent elven child Tyr, the time ravaged visage of a shell-shocked fox tail beast-man Aja, from a beautiful but terrified werecat Muse, the fire-scorched face of Marduk a dwarf mumbling under his breath in confused anger, to the gentle expression on the young half-alv Feronia and finally to Hachiman himself – the broad but slightly angular features marked with indecision, an uncharacteristic quality in Tranquil Territory's guild master and Feudal Lord.

The bard Muse was a voluptuous beauty, since her arrival she had been constantly yammering about how wonderful Elder Tales now seemed and how responsive the non player characters, she had talked non stop – almost as if she could not help herself. Finally the irate sorcerer Marduk had exploded in anger screaming at his guild mate for silence.

Recognising how important maintaining strong team work was, the youth Tyr quickly stepped forward, his immense armour bound form had clanked heavily as he interposed himself between the two, guardian's were always in the thick of it, but heated words were far more dangerous than blades. They were not the only ones who joined in the mounting dispute, soon only the unresponsive Aja and Hachiman were not involved before finally he had heard enough and slapped his open gauntlet against the table before him drawing the argument to an abrupt close.

Since then several moments had passed in uncomfortable silence as the cleric Feronia sought to calm the sobbing Muse, the seemingly more mature bard was gently cradled by the young half-alv girl who spoke softly, comfortingly – it made for a slightly strange sight if one did not know that the player who appeared as Feronia was the elder by nearly five years compared to the player of Muse.

Though it all, the gaunt form of the ancient fox tail had barely altered, still locked in his stupor ; the druid Aja barely seemed aware of his surroundings such was the shock of his sudden appearance in Elder Tales; his usual cutting wit and elaborate tales silenced. Indeed while Aja seemed the most obviously affected, the small group (the most elite members of their small guild who had been online when the expansion pack was uploaded) were behaving far from normally. No, that was unfair Yasuo realised - it would be abnormal to be normal right.

For each of his friends, he was seeing more and more of their out of character selves – the player behind the character. Marduk might have shaken with misdirected impotent rage earlier, yet usually was a humorous if somewhat condescending middle-aged prankster. For Muse, though her thin mask of intense interest and excitement burst, the somewhat flirtatious but honourable and capable woman who supported her allies in the midst of even the worst battles was reduced to a trembling little girl. The usually air headed Feronia revealed her keen awareness and her compassionate maturity. Tyr had never liked being on the front lines when it came to conflicts between party members, as the character had always been reserved even demure, yet as the player he had quickly stepped forward to try to deflect the argument.

"S- Sorry Misaki," Marduk's breath shook as he visibly strained to restrain himself, one hand clutching his face wearily, "I don't know what came over me. I know I shouldn't have but... I..." He sighed heavily. "Really, I'm sorry."

Though still sobbing Muse managed to nod her head, mumbling something that sounded like 'It's okay,' her shaking seemed to stop and the sounds of her half-muffled cries quieted as she managed with Feronia's help to regain her composure. After a few moments she straightened, "That's no good my stout little fellow, you won't be popular with the ladies like that." Her eyes were still red from crying but her voice carried with it a hint of her usual self, the gentle somewhat provocative chiding.

Marduk still looked abashed and Muse shaken, yet there at least it seemed some progress was happening, on the other hand Aja had yet to say a word. While the wily old fox did not always chat away without a care, his slightly barbed tongue would usually have managed to pierce through the conversation and with the barest effort diverted it into a long winding tale, which would of course somehow end with Aja having saved the day; yet it seemed today it was Aja who needed saving.

Near the door Muse and Marduk awkwardly looked to make amends with Feronia and Tyr chiming in to smooth things over; Aja's silence had helped to ensure that he had been left unattended and that was something that Hachiman could not continue to allow.

Standing up he walked around and pulled out a chair to the right of his seated friend, pulling it out from the table he sat down and leaned back in his chair and spoke softly, his voice pitched for the fox alone. "Are you worried about her?"

"What the hell are you talking about? Midori will be fine! Who said she wouldn't be? Why would I be worried?!" Aja snarled before giving a start, dropping one of the tasteless mugs of what the innkeeper had claimed was honey mead, the half empty pewter cup did not shatter against the floor but rather bounced slightly with a dull sound, sending the rest of its contents creeping across the packed dirt floor as the mug wobbled on its side then was still, though a notable chip could now be seen near the rim of the vessel.

The sudden outburst had drawn the other's attention, though they kept their distance, warned as they were by the obvious emotion and the lack of the Hachijo dialect which Taku usually suppressed when speaking as Aja in favour of a more classical Japanese tone, the ancient slightly awkward turns of phrase suited the elderly fox far more than Taku's normal voice.

Yasuo had known Taku for three years now, though the two met by accident – in a private hospital that Yasuo's family owned; Taku's wife and he had come to see his eight year old daughter Midori who had lived at the hospital since she was born. "Don't worry Taku, the doctors there are top notch."

Yet instead of being relieved Taku gritted his canine teeth and clenched his withered hands in anger and frustration. "But if I don't work then- Damn it Yasuo... you know how much her treatments cost, Riko could never afford it by herself. If-" His voice trailed off in despair; his wife Riko was a smart and hard-working woman who laboured long hours as a receptionist, but the costs of Midori's treatments were immense, only Taku's job in a small legal consulting firm enabled them to make ends meet; though the hours were long and he seldom had the opportunity to play Elder Tales as frequently as he had previously, the job allowed him to take care of his family. Surely he must be frustrated that he had chosen today of all days to log back in.

"My parents would not allow such a thing Taku," Yasuo declared quietly and patted his friend's shoulder before giving a small, slightly tight smile, "certainly not with both of their sons in the mix."

The Fujiwara's were wealthy, almost obscenely so, it was one of the reasons that they were able to indulge Yasuo's preoccupation with travelling and the small private collection that he had garnered of significant cultural artefacts and artworks. It was an immensely costly hobby, one which consumed more money in a single month than all the years of Riko's treatment so far – a fact he had never considered before now.

* * *

Over the next half hour Hachiman had finally managed to get in contact with the other members of the small guild, of thirty-four members, eighteen were online when the disaster had occurred and of those only the six in the tavern cellar were outside of Susukino; that was where the Tranquil Territory had run a campaign called Bruised Egos, with one of their fellow role-play guilds, Outside Faction.

Outside faction was a guild nearly five times their size and one of the most active role-play guilds on the Japanese servers, certainly among the largest – unlike Tranquil Territory, they were not organised around a more formal structure of character relationships, such as lord and retainers, instead Outside faction was a more loosely associated group of clusters of characters with various types of relationships, some pleasant some antagonistic, they cooperated in order to provide each-other with a broader and more intensive experience as characters rather than mere players.

For example Yasuo knew that the campaign Tranquil Territory and Outside Faction had been undertaking involved a small conflict between some of the lower and middle levelled members of the two guilds, it had been a dispute which had escalated from a small drunken scuffle to a series of attacks on each-other's caravans carried out without their superior's awareness. That was why it was only Yasuo who knew of the campaign and not Hachiman, each of the characters involved had been taking great care to prevent word of the conflict from emerging, yet as players they had often discussed it in the previous weeks. And so it was that Hachiman and his five high levelled compatriots sat in a bar hundreds of kilometers away at a time when many of the weaker members of his guild had been in combat; had Hachiman known about the conflict they would likely have already dealt with it, but since he did not – many of his liege-men were able to experience the wonderful opportunity to make friends and enemies, to progress certain aspects of their stories and to come to a deeper understanding of their own characters and their relationships with other characters – it was an invaluable experience that might not have been able to occur were Hachiman involved.

Since they were not involved with Bruised Egos (the campaign in the north) and indeed their presence would have stifled the opportunity for the campaign to have developed as desired, the six had travelled south just before the expansion pack was released they had decided to complete a dungeon just to the west of Akihabara.

Their party with Hachiman the samurai, Tyr the guardian, Aja the druid, Feronia the cleric, Muse the bard and Marduk the sorcerer was rather lacking in fire-power; so there were many dungeons they were not suited for. Hachiman himself was perhaps the most versatile in terms of boosting their attack in a pinch, while he usually tanked he could instead focus on damage dealing only switching back to tanking as a last ditch support. Yet Hachiman's skills were less suited for dealing with large numbers of enemies - even his damage orientated equipment was suited for protracted combat against stronger foes, not for dealing with large numbers of weaker enemies. The result was that their progress through a dungeon was slow, each battle became more protracted resulting in greater danger of enemy patrols vastly complicating the encounter.

The dungeon had been a gruelling exercise for their party, though the boss battle itself had been easy by comparison. They had barely completed the dungeon with about twenty minutes and used call of home to head to the last city they had gone to, Akihabara, to sell some of their loot and to restock supplies then the Elder Tales servers went down for maintenance and the new expansion pack. When they had logged back in... the world was very different, yet each of the six had returned to Akihabara, while the rest of their guild was in Susukino.

In the half hour since the initial commotion in the tavern cellar, reports had been flowing in through calls from their friends list almost non-stop. The fairy rings were not working, combat was apparently still possible, yet vastly different from before and even more importantly, equal parts encouraging and disturbing, players could revive.

Bruised Egos had been cancelled and each guild had withdrawn, gathering their members so that they might draw a sense of security from one another though it appeared in Susukino as in Akihabara, there were those who were fairing poorly from the fear and uncertainty, lashing out at each-other over trivialities, standing insensate no matter their surroundings, wailing with inconsolable terror, others seemed to be falling into pieces from nervous breakdowns. As Yasuo he might have hesitated about what to do, but for Hachiman the course was clear. His trusted and valued vassals had suffered a powerful trauma and now tore at each other in confusion. In these uncertain times it was essential that they join up with those they knew and could trust and so it was that the party of six were to rejoin their comrades in the north.

In Tranquil Territory, Hachiman was surrounded by characters who sought a peace and that they had not found within the lands controlled by the lords and ladies of Elder Tales – they had gathered to his side to create their own Tranquil Territory. It was not so different, Yasuo realised, from what they now sought – a place of peaceful security where the players could await salvation, some way out of this world. Yet for all that, he knew this was not the same as their usual role plays – there were often times when a character might be scared, yet the player behind was never in danger, there was always some margin of safety, yet now that layer had been torn away, leaving only raw fear and uncertainty in its place; the players desperately needed something to grab their attention to ease that rushing panic. For that they needed a goal to pursue, something that they could work on with the belief that it would lead to them achieving their goal, that everything would be okay.

But not every role-play had a happy ending - and even happy endings often have a price.

Tyr finally returning interrupted Yasuo's musings, the heavy footsteps on the tavern's wooden steps preceding him - it had been nearly a quarter-hour since the diminutive guardian had left the cellar. Now that he was back the young elf wore a disgusted look on his face. "Things are pretty bad out there; people are sitting in corners rocking back and forward, others screaming at each-other or People of the Land, there have even been a few fights for absolutely no reason - at least until the royal guards just appeared from thin air."

"Do not think badly of them Tyr," Aja said quietly, "whether it be fear over what is happening in Elder Tales or back in the other world - there is a great deal that might weigh on one's mind right now." The 'other' world, where a regular player might have easily said the 'real' world, many role-players avoided such phrases, for to suggest that the other world was real was to imply that this world was not, such a reminder merely served to undermine the immersion that they sought.

"No it's not that," Tyr hastened to say, "rather I couldn't..." he lowered his face slightly, his voice dipping and then trailing off.

Muse had looked at the fidgeting boy with a growing, somewhat sadistic grin, "You couldn't find a bathroom?"

If anything her words caused Tyr to shrink even further, his voice abashed yet somewhat defiant as he replied. "I looked everywhere, the tavern, the merchant district, the guild house. Have you ever realised there are no toilets in Elder Tales!" In the silence that followed that last phrase seemed to echo in the air, causing Tyr's face to redden.

"Oi oi oi - you didn't...?" Aja's face slackened with disbelief as he began to ask, but couldn't bring himself to finish the question; Feronia edged slightly away from the elven youth - disapproval, disgust and commiseration fought a three-way war for control of her expression, while Muse was LITERALLY rolling on the floor with laughter - her question had been meant in jest, but this was too much.

"Hell No!" Poor Tyr was outraged at the implication and quick to shout his denial. "I just had to go behind a building." The words served to mollify Aja and the formerly petrified Marduk, Feronia however did not look as disgusted as before though her expression of disapproval lingered and as for Muse, she merely laughed all the harder, tears at the corner of her eyes.

"Well since no one has really needed to go to the bath room before, I guess some facilities for players are lacking." It wasn't often that someone needed to have their character going to the bathroom (at least not in Elder Tales nor many other MMOs); so even more hardcore role-players for whom immersion was so vital had largely not recognised the omission But despite his carefully worded reply Yasuo couldn't quite hide his mirth, earning him a pout from the young elf, though even he was forced to smile sheepishly. "Some things are going to take some getting used to."

* * *

**Chapter notes: **

I know this starts slowly, it present a significant disconnect with the prelude; this has been done because I believe it is essential to show some of the deeper player reactions to the situation in addition to the more apparent character aspects. In addition it helps set the scene a bit in examining actors involved in the narrative and some of the major types of actors: characters and players. Getting into the major content areas such as the feudal system and the reason for the contention between the brother's on the battlement will need to wait until the end of this arc – sorry but that is how it goes.

You might wonder at some of the demographics I have been basing the characters on; I have been basing characters on a range of between early teens and more mature gamers around their late forties, younger teens are likely to be less common in Tranquil Territory with more as late teens or older (though Elder Tales itself would be a broader demographic).

This is partially due to the fact that in the series players are often presented as if they were in their twenties, also Elder Tales has a twenty year history and that many of the veterans are likely to be older players as a result. Likewise many of the player specific aspects (rather than character aspects) such as their troubles regarding the potential implications of their current predicament are more varied, such as having dependants, spouses, jobs etc. I think that this will be a particularly interesting area to examine.

Oh and yes I am aware of the availability of NPC facilities such as bathrooms as was examined in the LN, however at this stage the idea of looking for such within NPC dwellings had not occurred to the player involved; therefore this will not be altered despite being somewhat incorrect.


	3. Journey

******Tranquil Territory - 2 - The Journey**

One might be inclined towards waiting around Akihabara; yet Hachiman wanted to ensure that they reunited with their friends in the north as quickly as possible and to avoid any feeling of helplessness that might fester were they unoccupied for too long. That sense of despair had become all too visible in Akihabara even before sunset on the first day, and while Yasuo might cringe at the idea of leaving the players as they were, he had a more pressing responsibility to his friends.

Three Griffins soared northwards from Akihabara as dusk approached on the first day since the world had been turned upside down. Behind Hachiman the wings behind flapped with deceptive ease before gliding once more; in front of him Marduk held the reins more leisurely now – he had been white knuckled the first two days – never having liked heights, but now that they approached the third he seemed far more laid back, more trusting of his feathered friend. The sorcerer had been among the fourteen of Tranquil Tyranny to take part in the raid (which they had completed with the assistance of Outside Faction) that had secured the griffins, though only seven of those fourteen were online.

Hachiman rode double with the sorcerer Marduk, the guardian Tyr with the cleric Feronia and finally the druid Aja with the bard Muse; though each of the six had a griffin this formation allowed them to make full use of the advantages that the griffins offered; each could carry two people and only be used for four hours of a day. By doubling up, this allowed their party to fly for a full eight hours of the day, covering the distance in a flash.

It had been on their second day that they had been forced to divert around Tearstone Mountains to avoid the Wyverns, lacking a map of the Depths of Palm they instead relied on Aja's animal taming subclass, allowing them to limit the aggro of many of the creatures in their route north-east, it was a wonderful subclass that allowed the player to communicate to some extent with animals and to potentially train them, the result was that they had managed to avoid numerous encounters that would have otherwise been unavoidable.

The journey had been far from quiet however, in avoiding the Wyverns they had managed to veer into the nesting grounds of a flock of harpies and despite Aja's efforts the battle had been unavoidable. Burdened as they were with two riders, the griffins had been unable to perform to their full and the battle had been protracted and viscous. Combat following the apocalypse was fundamentally different; though Marduk told him it was somewhat easier for ranged classes, the use of a menu to input commands was simply too slow and clumsy given the distraction of being torn at by razor sharp claws.

Eventually they had managed to drive away their opponents and the three griffins that they had been riding retreated to recover from their ordeal, leaving the group just shy of the Lyport channel with three of their six feathered mounts unavailable; that meant that they were spending more of their time astride horses and the number of battles they were forced into rose dramatically.

It was later on that third night that they heard from the other members of Tranquil Territory in the north, things had taken a turn for the worse.

* * *

The fire crackled as darkness surrounded them; Hachiman and Feronia had the second watch that night, while the others slept in a semi-circle around the dim flame. The Samurai turned from looking around the camp and its surroundings before sitting on his haunches to add some more wood and stir the fire, to ensure it did not go out. It was his first time camping and he found the experience oddly captivating, watching the tongues of flame dance among the half charred oaken timbers and allowed the sensation to distract him for a moment. The black armour he wore glistened in the reflected baleful glow as he breathed in the chill mountainside air, tinged as it was with the slightly acrid smell of burnt wood.

The remains of dinner had been strewn across the area, thrown there by a disgusted Taku (not acting at all druid like) who had complained bitterly every night about the meal. It was a step down, he told Yasuo with all seriousness - Taku, Aja's player worked long hard hours at his job and one of the things he had enjoyed the most was coming back to have a nice meal at the end of the day; true it was usually a microwave dinner, but it was still much nicer than the tasteless mush they were confronted with in the new Elder Tales.

Hachiman stirred the refuse with his foot as he stood to resume his vigil – while the others had initially complained about the meals only Aja was so adamant, yet for Hachiman... he had not even noticed that there was any difference in taste until Aja made a huge fuss about it. Perhaps that was due to the information he had received earlier or perhaps-

"Lost in thought?" Feronia's soft, slightly lilting voice came from behind him and he turned towards her with a rueful smile before glancing once more to the dimly moonlit surroundings, the dense vegetation in one of the zones just to the south of the channel near the eastern coast was among the more peaceful in the region, however there were two types of creatures that would attack on sight at night were you to encounter them.

"Ahh, dear Feronia, you know me – I cannot calm down until I have thought things through."

"Only once? But you misunderstand me Yasuo." Came her gentle chiding in response, not at all like her usual self – he turned towards her once again a frown on his face this time as he saw her fingering the silver chain she wore around her throat, the sole ornament on the chain was a pair of interlocking sapphire studded rings. It was a gesture that they had been told about earlier that day; apparently the more sizeable role-play guilds had gotten together and decided to use the symbol of the two rings (common to many of the role play guilds) to help players communicate that they wished to speak 'out of character', as the player instead of the character.

Hachiman or rather Yasuo awkwardly opened his inventory and equipped the dual silver rings he had purchased long ago; "Sorry, I am not used to this way yet, Yume. What is on your mind?"

"More importantly, what is on yours?" She shot back without missing a beat, though her voice was light. "You barely ate a bite and I doubt you got more than an hour of sleep before and ever since the start of our turn at watch you have been restless. Is it about Susukino?"

"Yes." There was no point hiding it Yasuo realised; besides, Yume had always been a great deal more perceptive than her character Feronia – something he should have realised. "Things have really gotten out of hand... rampant PKing, abductions, and-" Yasuo paused waving his hand in a vain attempt to dispel the train of thought. Apparently a number of the guilds in Susukino had taken to terrorising everyone else; the most prominent by far was Brigandia and they had come to dominate the northern reaches, even before now they had heard of small villages being sacked and pillaged as Brigandia flexed their muscle in the new Elder Tales; yet today it had apparently taken a turn for the worse. "I should have realised that trash would surface. Like turds that just wont flush." His face took on a grim, bitter smile.

Feronia gave a short snort of laughter before hastening to stifle the noise, looking at Yasuo reproachfully, "Its only ever in times like these that you make jokes."

He sighed and lowered his head slightly in acknowledgement; "It has only been three days Yume, I never imagined it would get this bad this quickly. I am worried about our friends stuck up there." The members of Tranquil Territory based in Susukino were holed up in two private zones, emerging only really to gather information and supplies. However on their gathering trips they had gotten into a number of scuffles against other players in some of the outer zones, particularly in the villages to the west of Susukino.

There were many protections in place in a city to prevent player versus player violence, yet not everything counted as violence and even then People of the Land were not afforded the same level of protection. It was this that had led to the most disturbing of the information that they had received. Several score People of the Land, mainly young women and the occasional boy had been abducted by Brigandia (and some other small guilds) and been sold in the town square; the customers were mainly other players but also apparently some affluent People of the Land; such as merchants and minor nobility. As for the poor victims of this trade - their fates were unknown, but that those who were sold were chosen for their looks was certainly damning.

"Back in Akihabara..." Yasuo paused, unsure how to continue, "I spoke to one of the People of the Land, a young human boy who said he didnt want to take over the family business when he grew up." Running one hand through his hair abruptly, Yasuo's voice tightened, "His father arrived and yelled at him, telling him to help port the goods for customers and the kid – he tried to make an excuse to get out of it and when his father cuffed him over the ear and sent him on his way, the kid looked resentful."

"Hey Yume... do you think they can really..." Yasuo didn't know how to give voice to the rest of the thought; could they truly feel emotion, could the child have truly disliked a certain behaviour or was it merely that they were programmed to seek to avoid it; could the child have resented the fact that they were forced to do something they had sought to avoid or was it merely that Elder Tales had by far the most advanced behavioural programming and capacity to give characters the appearance of emotion compared to any other game either of them had ever played.

"No way." She hastened to answer his unspoken question; "There is absolutely no way. I mean there are how many NPCs in Elder Tales? Two million maybe? More? Even if they only had to simulate the emotional reactions of one hundredth of those at any one time, we are talking twenty thousand minds, there is no way Elder Tales could have that sort of computing power, or the kinds of storage that would be involved."

As she spoke, words gained in confidence, it was clearly something that she had been considering for days and with her background in electronic engineering, her confidence about her conclusions was infectious. "No, I don't know exactly how their algorithm works, but it has to be some sort of sophisticated behavioural mapping – and only for a portion of NPCs at any one time. Heck, they probably are using our own computers to complete a lot of the work load relevant to that particular player and their surroundings." She nodded her head at that, a victorious smile on her face as she stood with arms folded, confident of her analysis.

Yasuo could feel an easing of the tension between his shoulders; that had been one of the most troubling aspects that he had been plagued by since the Apocalypse and the recent events in Susukino had brought that fear into sharp relief – if the people of the land could feel emotion then what truly were they? And what would that mean for the Adventurers and their players? "Thanks Yume, I knew you were the one to ask, I feel a lot better. If they had been able to suffer I don't think I could stand by."

She gave a grin yet the words that followed were said without hint of humour, "Well I am glad I could help, we need our leader to have his act together right now." The silence in the camp-site seemed oppressive and Hachiman turned back to his task; not noticing that few among the sleeping bags were still asleep.

* * *

The next day they made excellent time despite only having three Griffins at their call, the last leg of the journey was far less hazardous as there were far fewer aerial enemies in this region north of the Lyport channel, a fact that allowed them to make a beeline for Susukino in the north. As they passed over the peninsula that lay northwards past the Lyport channel yet before Susukino, Hachiman's face grew increasingly grim.

At first in the southern reaches of the peninsula there had been little sign of anything wrong, yet the further north they travelled the more apparent were the effects of the rampant brutes operating out of Susukino. Clusters of people, here a small family fled afoot with their meagre possessions, desperate to escape the carnage in the north; there what seemed almost an entire village had abandoned their land in search of safety in the south.

Though the escapees were casting about warily for any indication of trouble, few looked to the sky to search for potential enemies, after-all few had ever been faced with an enemy that struck from above. As long as the Hachiman and his party were careful where their shadows fell, they were able to observe the fleeing masses with relative ease, though twice they were spotted, which sent the people of the land scurrying for cover.

It was as their Griffins neared the end of their daily use that Tyr spotted the problem, to the north-east rose a column of smoke which drifted to the north-west on the sea breeze, in that direction lay the small township of Gull's Rock, one of the satellite cities nearly two hours by horse to the south of Susukino. The black clouds rose ominously even as the party veered downwards and towards the plain further towards the west – just in case there was trouble, landing directly in the midst of it would surely act to place their party in jeopardy.

Closing in quickly on the site, the six prepared themselves – the rising pillar of smoke rose like some sort of nightmarish grey barked tree, its warped billowing mass grasping into the sky above as if to reach upwards and spread its soot stained canopy into the sky above – to chase away the memory of the sun with it's dark promise; in the spreading shadow beneath the malignant mass, the collection of huts and cottages flickered orange and red, like a bracelet of prayer beads to a god that had turned away. Victorious roars and the despairing cries of fear and impotent rage sounded out in the dying light, as the sounds of metal clashing punctured the silence between blasts of mage-fire; yet the battle seemed to have reached it's zenith and resistance was already beginning to crumble, with the cries of the aggressors becoming more and more frenzied. Dimly in the firelight, they could make out two groups of attackers.

Though Yasuo realised it was not in their interests to intervene, instead they should strike directly for Susukino, Hachiman would have none of that – he closed his eyes for just a moment, reconciling the two yet as he opened them there was no hesitation as he drew his blades and quietly pronounced (without any hint of the embarrassment Yasuo would have felt), "For Tranquility." The six war horses dashed forwards, tanks in the fore - Hachiman took the right and Tyr the left even as Muse began to cast her buffing skills to provide their party with an increase in their attacking powers. With two groups to attack it was essential that they determine which to take down first, and so Hachiman and Tyr were responsible for making sure which of the two groups was the more dangerous and to strike them down quickly.

Their sudden appearance took one of the groups completely by surprise – so absorbed were they in their depredations that they failed to recognise the new threat quickly enough and Marduk's sorcery quickly took down two of their number before they were even aware the newcomers had arrived. Yet with Tyr in the forefront taking the bulk of the attackers and Hachiman intercepting the sole swashbuckler who had managed to avoid the young elven guardian. Marduk provided the bulk of their fire-power and the druid Aja supported, the two combining to ensnare and then rain down death on Tyr's foes, Feronia the cleric had little healing to do and instead relied on the bow, striking at the Summoner towards the rear even as their front collapsed. The six that they had initially encountered went down with little difficulty and although the second group of five was more composed having heard the initial confrontation, they were a weaker group than the first and went down with only slightly more difficulty.

After the battle Hachiman lifted his face to the heavens and growled his victory, yet the rising stack of smoke soon brought him back to his surroundings which gave lie to that sense of accomplishment. Smoking ruins still burned as the slashed or scorched corpses of Landers (or people of the land) lay strewn around them the flush of victory left him and his face drained of colour as he surveyed the scene. The bodies of more than one woman were in various states of undress he noted with mounting distress, some of the figures were smaller than the others – though whether dwarves or children he was uncertain as the bodies began to disappear one by one. Here and there landers could be seen blackened by soot or bloodied by wounds inflicted by the adventurers or the debris, some had been wondering around dazed even during the fight while others had come out after the combat had ended and Hachiman's group had shown no inclination to strike at the survivors.

After a few moments, without any hint from Hachiman Marduk began casting his ice spells, doing his best to douse the fires while Aja moved among the wounded, his gap toothed smile and folksy charm bringing some around while Feronia moved among the women many of whom shied away from the male adventurers. There were also likely survivors hiding in the surroundings while others had likely fled and not looked back. Tyr moved off to check the rest of the village, it was only a few moments before he used telepathy to call Hachiman down towards the northern road, his voice grim he had encountered an enchanter – though the fight had been quick.

When the samurai reached the outbound path it did not take him long to find Tyr, the petite guardian was standing slightly back from two young women, one an elf and the other a human. "Good work Tyr. What happened?" He asked after barely hesitating.

"Found an enchanter dragging these two north, looks like he decided to cut and run," Tyr's voice dipped lower – intended to be pitched for Hachiman alone, "taking these two with him – destined for the Susukino markets it seems."

Hachiman grimaced in distaste, well at least they had prevented two Landers from being abducted. The two girls clung to each-other half sobbing in equal parts fear and relief; it was only as Hachiman gazed at the two that his eyes widened further and further in shock. Quickly accessing the interface, Hachiman called Muse to assist the pair back to the village and suggested that Tyr stay with the two while he made his way back to camp – his own stature was far more intimidating than that of the small elf which seemed less likely to further the anxiousness of the pair.

* * *

In the aftermath as he made his way back through the broken and blackened debris the sky darkening overhead, Hachiman shook his head with barely restrained anger, almost eager for another foe upon whom he might unleash his anger – born of his disgust at their actions as well as the unease he had already carried with him, fear for his friends in the north. How much of that emotion was Yasuo's own he was not sure, it was true that Hachiman would be angry in such an occasion, but what of the player? How much was his own fear at being stuck in Theldesia, the world of Elder Tales? How much of it was his own uncertainty at his loss of control over his own life and destiny? How much his hatred at the ugliness that despoiled the world that he had spent so many years engaged with in every way as real as his own? Where did Hachiman's fury end and his own begin?

The two young girls now made their way back to the burned out village under the tender graces of Muse and the vigilant Tyr guiding them towards Feronia's capable care; it was in part because of that one moment – in the dying moments of the fourth day since the Apocalypse, that one glance would stay with him forever it seemed. It was only because of the interface that he could tell that the young human was in fact an Adventurer, and the Elf a Lander; had he not been able to see their status, he would not have been able to tell which was which. Yume might be able to mount an impressive argument that they could not really be _aware_, but to his eyes their tears, to his ears their cries, to his heart their plight – he could not tell the difference.

It was often said that characters which reflected or had some aspect which strongly resonated with the player were among the most immersing and rewarding. Yasuo had always believed that Hachiman represented an ideal, one which had the ability to protect that which he held precious. For Yasuo this world and its people had been a source of incredible moments and unforgettable memories – true, they were all experienced through Hachiman, but they were precious beyond measure. For Hachiman, the People of the Land were the true beauty of the land, they were those who toiled long in the fields, who laboured with chisel and saw, who earnestly polished their skills and sought to carve out a moment of happiness with their families. Whether to Yasuo or to Hachiman the People of the Land were precious, this world was precious to them both and whether in character or out of character, whether they were there for a day or a lifetime, he had decided – he would protect the world he loved and the people in it, Adventurer and Lander alike.

* * *

It took nearly an hour to coax those nearby to return to the village, during which time Marduk managed to douse the remaining structures, assisted by a bucket line that the locals had formed. For the Landers who had been through so much at the hands of the last set of Adventurers, it must be somewhat disconcerting to suddenly receive aid from these Adventurers, though they still looked at the newcomers warily, they accepted the help – some with numbness, some with relief and some even with gratitude.

The village was in shambles, not a single residence had escaped unscathed and their meeting hall and the markets had both been completely gutted; fully a quarter of their number were dead or missing, the survivors numbered one hundred and forty seven or so Hachiman was informed by a wrinkled old soot stained woman. Her dress might have been considered fine by local standards before the attack, but now the embroidery was stained beyond any hope of salvation, the edge frayed and saturated with the stench of burned hair and the remains of Gull's Rock.

Her name was Rin Gull, the mother of the former lord of the village, the magistrate appointed by the Ezzo Empire had been her son Shinji and before that had presided her departed husband Ken. It was only natural that the survivors had turned to the old matriarch in their time of need, even if she were a mere woman and hardly fit for the more complex task of negotiating with these Adventurers, perhaps the newcomers might feel pity for the Locals' plight were they to face a woman rather than a man.

At least that was how many of the menfolk had reasoned it – they had failed to recognise that old Rin Gull was every bit the seasoned curmudgeon that she looked, her nails might have chipped and packed with dirt from digging among the ruins, her tightly bound hair might have been marred by soot and debris– yet she had managed to find time to wash the ash and tears from her face and carried herself with a dignity that few could muster, let alone under such strained circumstances and it was her steely eyes that commanded Hachiman's attention.

"The damage is extensive Lady Rin," Hachiman noted gravely as he came to stand beside the much smaller woman who stood iron backed looking at the scenes of people rooting among the ruins for any dim chance of survivors or valuables that might be salvaged. "Repairing the outer-wall will take at least a week – and that is if it were the only task to be completed." Without a perimeter wall, the Landers would struggle to stave off attacks from wolves let alone the giants that roamed Ezzo or the Adventurers plundering from the north. "It might be best if you were to..."

Hachiman's voice trailed off as Rin turned her head abruptly fixing him with a glare; though her face showed less emotion than others, Hachiman could sense the anguish that clutched at her outweighed her anger. "I know." The weight of her years and her responsibilities seemed to press in on Rin, yet her old back remained unbowed even though the sorrow was palpable. The duty she had for the welfare of the people of Gull's Rock and the love she bore them had warred with and was victorious over the precious memories of the place she had lived with her family. "We must flee, though whether to the south or to the east I do not know."

To the east lay the promise of protection from the Ezzo Empire, or at least that was how it seemed on the surface, but the old woman had quickly realised that while the Ezzo court might perhaps protect them from wolves or giants, they seemed to lack any sort of answer to the menace of the Adventurers. While the cities themselves might be protected by their ancient alven artefacts, even now small villages and towns burned in a band around Susukino – including those that stretched to the north and east – on the outskirts of the Empire's cities. Yet the cities could only take so many refugees and they had already had word that some were being turned away. "We would not find refuge in the eastern cities; yet to the south lies the peninsula." They were a fishing folk, they were used to the open water, yet the Lyport channel would be too much – it was not that the distance was particularly far but rather that the creatures that dwelt beneath would attack any who passed over the deepest waters.

"Leave the south to us." Hachiman tapped his chest and indicated his fellow travellers, the idea that had been slowly taking root since they first crossed into the Ezzo Empire began to flower in his mind's eye – he could see the vague outline of a plan that he had been harbouring unfolding. He could see the unasked question on her face and though he wished for his plan to remain a secret for as long as he could, it was only fair that he included the old woman into his trust when he asked her to trust her people to him. "In the south lies an abandoned strong hold and it is there that the banner of Tranquil Territory will truly be raised." As he spoke he noticed that his companions had drawn near; "It is time for our world Theldesia to remember the Feudal Lord Hachiman."

The Feudal Lord subclass had briefly been the most popular subclass available shortly after its introduction in the fourth expansion; but the immense time requirements and dependence on loyal competent vassals quickly reduced its popularity to less than a hundred enthusiasts on the Yamato server (the Japanese Elder tales server) who contested for control of certain zones through military force; economic power or influence with the locals. Combining mandatory missions and performance evaluations, it was a huge time sink, significantly reducing the ability of the Feudal Lord to go adventuring, to increase their level or to go on the raids required for high level gear.

Even though Hachiman had been playing for many years and was considered among the most seasoned of the Feudal Lords on the Japanese server, he had only reached the current level cap of ninety in his Samurai class six months before the Apocalypse, despite having reached ninety in Feudal Lord only two months after the cap was raised. Indeed while his armour was top notch (courtesy of an enormously expensive unbound loot drop from a high level raid), his weapons though well made were only of production class. This was the fate of all who took the subclass seriously, it was a huge amount of work which reduced one's ability to experience other parts of the game while exposing you to a different side of Elder Tales.

Though it did not require the devotion of a subclass and could provide a buff to stats; Adventurers who had become the vassals of a Feudal Lord were very nearly as rare, this was because if the Feudal Lord was incompetent or were the loyalty of the inhabitants of the occupied zones to diminish then the vassal would receive a debuff instead. Likewise they would randomly encounter Landers with mandatory quests and that failing to complete these quests might result in a penalty.

Tranquil Territory was a guild comprised of such individuals and they had been among the more successful of the guilds who took part in the Feudal System. The largest of guilds seldom managed to compete effectively in the Feudal System, because the number of quests generated by the expectations of the inhabitants of the zones they occupied would grow in proportion to the size of the guild, resulting in a situation where a Feudal System could only really operate if everyone pulled their weight – in larger guilds the ability to easily direct the focus of members to ensure that they devoted themselves to the Feudal quests was limited and as a result the expectations of the inhabitants were often unmet and loyalty was soon to fall. Large guilds could easily conquer a feudal territory, yet their ability to hold onto it was far less certain.

In the end small guilds and those medium sized guilds with a high proportion of enthusiasts were best suited for the challenge of holding onto the loyalty of the masses – that was one reason why Tranquil Territory had managed to hold onto territory in the west of Ezzo for thirty one consecutive months ending only eight moths prior to the Apocalypse after three other feudal guilds combined to overthrow Hachiman and his companions (though infighting quickly brought the end of that alliance). It was a record that was unmatched on the Japanese server and seldom matched on any Elder Tales server; Tranquil Territory had cemented its place among the top of the player managed Feudal Systems rankings despite their size.

The six members of Tranquil Territory looked at each-other, some such as Tyr were determined, the small elf's jaw set stubbornly, the half alven Feronia still looked slightly overwrought at the carnage surrounding her though her she smiled wanly, the feline featured Muse began to play gently a song which began to swell in intensity calling the others to battle which caused Aja to smile in wry amusement, the elderly fox shaking his head ruefully though he fist bumped with the dwarven Marduk. Hachiman watched his friends with pride as they began to chat excitedly about the Tranquility that they would bring to Theldesia, Feronia and Muse became so animated that they failed to notice when they dropped out of character and everyone else kindly ignored the unintentional breach of etiquette. What he did not notice was the gasp of the elderly Rin and some of the nearby Landers.

"Did he say the Feudal Lord Hachiman?"

"The Tranquil Tyrant?"

The murmurs grew stronger eventually drawing the attention of the Adventurers who looked around in surprise to note awestruck faces even as Muse's strumming died away. Awe is a strange thing, part terror part admiration and it was that which filled the faces of the elder members of the community while some of the younger looked on in confusion. It was however Rin who spoke, her face ashen though she had long since cleaned away the soot. "Are you truly Hachiman the Tyrant of Tranquil Territory?" Her voice was strained into the silence, barely managing to pitch above the sound of the waves which seemed unnaturally loud in the stillness which now gripped Gull's Rock. "The same Hachiman who ruled the western coast of Ezzo for more than thirty years with an iron fist?"

"The one who hanged Sir Grack the Boulder?"

"Who burned down Tin-digger's Point?"

More and more deeds flowed forth, the Adventurers reacted with shock yet none more so than Hachiman who had frozen in place, in no small part due to Rin's trembling thin bony hands which clasped one of his gauntlets now, her veins clearly visible through the parchment thin skin, she clung now with signs of desperation – her eyes saucer wide.

"Yes."

The single word caused one of the men in back to crumple noiselessly to the ground and after barely a moment of silence chaos erupted.

* * *

**Chapter Notes: **

As you might be able to tell, I am not going to be covering the combat in depth, the level of combat shown in the Gull's Rock is probably going to be about the highest level of detail except in particularly important encounters which I might describe a bit more extensively.

A note about timing. Shiro and party left Akihabara for Susukino after a considerable amount of time had elapsed and the situation there had already degenerated significantly (they departed after at least two weeks). By contrast, Tranquil Tyranny has set out much earlier and due to their increased access to griffins (enough that they can ride double, allowing them to fly for eight rather than four hours a day) are able to make much better time. This allows the timeline I have proposed to be viable given the canon (to the best of my knowledge), though it does mean they would likely have had more trouble in their fights on the way north than Shiro, Akatasuki and Naotsugu.

It was shown in the series that at least some portion of some character actions are retained within Elder Tales; Shiro for example is known as a grand mage who appeared nearly a hundred years earlier. Now I assume that this is mainly for characters who achieve something really notable – performing certain key quests, being the first to finish certain raids etc. However I think that Tranquil Territory's rather impressive achievement of securing land for thirty years (remembering that Elder Tales has a twelve fold time difference) is a sufficiently notable achievement that it would also be remembered. I know that this is aggrandizing so I will avoid such in the future, it is merely that this is an important plot point.

**Content Assumptions and Assertions:**

Asserted: Subclass 'Animal Trainer' (this role-play subclass exists but no details are known to date), I have asserted the following abilities for this subclass: allows some higher degree of communication than standard with certain types of animals, can potentially allow the user to establish lesser states of aggression (such as preventing aggro on sight) and to even establish a bond between the user and a particular creature. I have also assumed that having a player in their party with this subclass would have allowed them to travel in the air along a different route than Shiro, therefore allowing them to bypass the Depths of Palm (and not interfering with Canon).

Assumed: That the anti violence enforcement does not cover player versus non player violence to the same extent as player versus player violence.

Assumed: Mounts can be wounded (note that discussions were made in canon about a griffin's combat abilities) and that this results in a protracted period during which the mount is not available to summon and that attempting to heal the mount before it retreats will lessen the damage and therefore the amount of time it is unavailable.

Asserted: existence of demi-human creature 'Harpy'; half bird half humanoid, highly aggressive, very proud and hates filth (will kill other harpies if plumage is tarnished).

Asserted: existence of small village zone to the south of Susukino called 'Gull's Rock' primarily a fishing village where some lower level missions had been available pre-apocalypse. Population is approximately one hundred and fifty when Tranquil Territory arrives.


	4. Banner

**Tranquil Territory - 3 - The Banner**

He dropped back to a canter as he approached Susukino, Hachiman's breath fogged infront of his face as he surveyed the icy tundra before him, the snow-capped walls of the iron-bound northern player city that was this stark fortress. Normally it seemed a pristine, the snow would seem to make the view that of refuge from the cold, yet to his eyes it seemed a callous construct – a nest of beasts who had donned the skin of men. Around his waist Karin's hands tightened, she was the young human adventurer, a level thirty-four summoner – in her attempt at flight from her captors she had lost her mount summoning flute or otherwise she would not need Hachiman's assistance like this.

The horse slowed and finally stopped well short of the gate and they stood there unmoving except for the gentle shifts of the well-trained war-horse beneath them. "Are you sure about this?" She asked timidly, her soft voice shaking slightly as she grasped his armoured form to keep herself from falling. The two were alone; Hachiman had instructed his friends to accompany the people of Gull's Rock who even now made their way south with the few of their valuables they had managed to gather.

The commotion in the village had quickly resulted in Rin agreeing to Hachiman's proposal, and her conviction that the Tranquil Tyrant could offer security quickly spread to the rest of the village. The prospect of safety gave their feet wings and the industrious villagers were soon on their way south. Almost all had agreed to leave, save for the barest handful who were intent on living and dying on the land their forebears had settled; for them the snows approached and the callous winter would soon close over.

Hachiman had entrusted the safety of those who fled to the south to the rest of his party, the five were a potent and well seasoned group, indeed of the six Hachiman had the least polished skill in combat due to the amount of time he spent at his other duties. On the other hand Hachiman travelled north to reunite with the rest of Tranquil Tyranny and to determine the state of Susukino for himself, Karin had wanted to return and get her friend out of Susukino too and so he had taken her with him.

Now as they dismounted and made their way into the icy town of Susukino, Hachiman could not ignore the feeling that the cold he sensed was as much from the people as from the snow. No one moved alone, instead seeking the sense of safety one could only gain in numbers; people huddled together engaged in whispered conversations, breaking off to stare at passers-by and anyone who looked in their direction; hands were always near weapons, eyes flitting this way and that as if certain at any moment a threat might materialise.

The homes and businesses of Susukino had always held a warmth that had served to stave off the cold outside their steel buttressed walls, yet that had steadily decayed until now instead of an open-hearth and a warm cup of mead pressed into ones hands instead fearful eyes peered out from cracked darkened doorways. Where before there might have been drunken yet jovial singing from those who warmed themselves with ale after a long day and the final calls for the last wares of a vendor looking to close-up shop for the night; instead there was raucous laughter and cruel jeering, pitiful cries and a painful silence; these were the sounds of the reborn Susukino. With every step that they took towards the larger of the two Tranquil Territory private zones in the city, the more incensed and despairing Hachiman grew by turns; this was not the Susukino he knew. It was just as Karin had advised him in the hours before.

* * *

It had been only five minutes earlier that Karin had gone her own way, adamant that she would only be a few minutes and would stay in contact with him via telepathy – refusing his offers to escort her. In the grotesque reflection of Susukino Hachiman had been reluctant to part, yet her eyes convinced him that this was something Karin needed to do; likewise his own efforts had a time limit and so with only a moment of hesitation he agreed and they parted ways in the snowy lanes.

When he arrived he spoke briefly through telepathy before opening the door. While the zone had been locked so that only members of tranquil territory could enter, in these times people were nervous and could use all the advance notice they could get. The moment he was through the door he was tackled by an immensely overweight man in a gold thread doublet, the assassin Loki. He had made a fortune as a courier – one of the role-play subclasses in elder tales it provides the character with opportunities to make timed runs between locations or individuals usually conveying goods or information; to assist it also provides a handy speed buff but at the cost of offensive and healing strength.

"It's so good to see you Hachiman my Lord, I was worried you had forgotten me. You never call you never write." The rotund man said with a playful air but Hacihman could tell the relief in his demeanour was unfeigned, Loki the courier was a man who loved pleasure – a fine wine, a sumptuous feast, a delicate sculpture, a refined composition or company on the cold Susukino nights; he was a man who appreciated sheathing's own beauty rather than comparing it to some other standard, that was why his own understanding of aesthetics were so... unique. His quarters were lavish, though less so than usual, the entrance it seemed had become cluttered as several of the rooms had been lined with pallets for his fellow members of Tranquil Territory.

Though the fat man might seem self-absorbed he was anything but, his beady little eyes were always on the lookout for any opportunity – or threat – and he was devoted to the idea of a more beautiful tomorrow and thus he had embraced the idea of a realm of tranquillity. Loki was one of the more well thought out characters in tranquil territory, his back-story was amazing yet never seemed intrusive, his character seemed to be able to fit into just about any situation, not to obstruct but rather to facilitate the unfolding tale. Souji, Loki's player was a remarkable man, it was all too easy as a role-player to attempt to redirect the story or to emphasise those elements that favoured examining some aspect you wished to delve into and in doing so limit the experience of others; instead Souji was adept at managing to tease out those elements that other players wanted to explore and to be able to find a way to express those or to combine elements with minimal sense of direction, to make the experience seem natural. Souji had been the one behind the most successful role-play campaigns that Hachiman had taken part in.

The overly serious Hachiman knocked prone to the floor and the ball-like assassin glomping him with tears in his eyes made for a somewhat ridiculous combination and from around the pair there was laughter before one young dwarf shook her head causing the twin ring ornament in her ear lobes to jangle and yelled in a high-pitched voice, "Stacks on Yasuo and Souji," came Gaia's voice, the guardian grinning as she suited her words, jumping forwards with arms outstretched – her armoured bulk colliding with the two.

"Wait, no~!" Was all Hachiman got out before a pile of felines and canines, dwarves and elves, humans and half-alvs rained down crushing him to the floor while above him Souji laughed.

* * *

Karin's next telepathic check in came just as Hachiman had managed to find a seat, Loki offering it to him with a flourish – along with a wine that of course tasted like water, yet he was told it was of a particularly fine vintage. "Ten more minutes? Yes I see. Be careful Karin, Susukino is far from safe right now."

Hachiman's voice caught Loki's ear immediately and the rotund assassin topped up Hachiman's cup even as he enquired. "A friend my Lord?"

Yasuo hesitated, planning how best to proceed without breaking character, "Indeed, Karin, the young girl we met while thwarting the slaving raid on Gull's Rock – the level thirty four summoner." The members of Tranquil Tyranny who were in Susukino were kept abreast of the situation as soon as there had been opportunity and so Loki knew of the adventurer who had been recovered from the slavers. The problem that Yasuo faced was how to convey his out of character desire to Loki in character, he could simply speak out of character, yet that clumsy way rubbed him the wrong way and as Yasuo valued Souji's opinion of him as a role-player, he had no desire to diminish his standing in the eyes of someone who's skill he admired.

"We arrived in Susukino together," carefully Yasuo measured his words, "however she left my side after we arrived in Susukino to go help her friend. I offered to help her yet she insisted that she wanted to go alone." That certainly drew Loki's attention and the fat assassins eyes narrowed in response as Yasuo had hoped, yet Hachiman would have never wanted (had he noticed it, which from a friend he would not have). "I do hope she is safe, she left towards the north-western block and who knows how dangerous it is over there. If her friend is particularly skilled – well, it would ease my fears were someone of suitable skill to watch over her; especially after her near miss with those slavers"

Hachiman trusted too easily and even despite his fears would leave it to the skills of his friends if they asked it; Yasuo on the other hand could not help shake the feeling that something was amiss. The newcomer who had been met in a raid by hostile adventurers, had chosen to split up in a dangerous city to meet a friend of unknown standing. Souji knew in an instant what Yasuo had wanted to communicate, it was something which Hachiman would never even consider asking – but Loki was suspicious enough that he would have recognised the problem contained in the 'idle' comment.

"Ahh now that I think of it, I have run out of my premium blue veined griffin cheese." Loki cried with mock chagrin, clasping his hands together as if in despair. "Please excuse me my lord. Gaia darling please see to our Lord's needs while I am gone." With that the golden doublet fell to the floor, minus one grossly overweight courier – who had exited in an instant.

Satisfied at the careful negotiation of etiquette, Hachiman took another sip of the water – or rather wine.

* * *

When dawn broke the next day, Tranquil Territory geared up. Fifty eight members prepared to leave, leaving only a handful behind to keep an eye on Susukino and to keep the rest of the guild advised of any events that might transpire in their absence. With Karin and her level ninety Assassin friend Derringer the sixty left Susukino in groups of six, to the south and to the west. At six, the largest party size was sufficient to give the impression of a group capable of defending itself but not so large as to arouse suspicion. After leaving Susukino, the groups rode south-west to rendezvous, to Karin and Derringer's surprise three of the groups that left by the west did not arrive, nor did one who left by the south; instead each immediately fell into the duties that Hachiman had allotted them the previous night.

The west bound groups would fan out through the ravaged western region, trying to make contact with those who might remember Tranquil Territory. Gull's Rock had provided the idea – some still remembered the long peace that their guild had enforced and in this time of upheaval many would look back on it with fond desire.

The south bound group on the other hand would replace the party left with Gull's Rock; they were better suited for protecting a column of refugees and the Griffin bearing party was vital to help the central column of seven six man parties, forty-two adventurers (including the two newcomers) – their main task would be to gather refugees into the southern march and to run interference against any attacks particularly from Susukino.

While Karin seemed subdued Derringer was becoming increasingly irate, though whether or not like his name he desired to seek out the enemy, this was unclear. In any case, the southwards march (burdened as they were by the far slower moving refugees) took nearly a week and included more than two dozen encounters, mainly with local creatures such as wolves and four giants, but on more than one occasion they ran into a Brigandia pillaging party. There was only one real blessing when encountering the other adventurers, they seldom acted with true discipline, they acted either as individuals or as a single unit, not as a unit within an army – they did not scout as they ought, instead they pillaged and plundered, they fought well, but compared to the forty two members of the main force with their ability to simply replace an entire party when a unit's health or magic was running low was simply far too much of an advantage. Their march had few casualties, and when some among their number fell, they would be reborn in Susukino and await allies to make a full party before striking southwards once more.

It was on the tenth day since the Apocalypse and the sixth since Gull's Rock that Hachiman spotted their destination, Stardust Fortress.

* * *

Some distance back from the start of the maze like entrance camped under the afternoon sun was a blanket of tents and shelters. In their travels the central group had gathered nearly two hundred refugees who wished their protection, Gull's Rock was another hundred and forty, yet before they had arrived had gathered at least a hundred and fifty more – whether it was because of word of their campaign having spread before them or whether it was because they were nearly at the coast; when the groups had come together they numbered nearly five hundred landers and some sixty five adventurers.

Tonight he would need twenty-three to accompany him he mused as he looked at the deceptively intimidating fortress. Most castles and fortresses relied on overbearing walls, yet Stardust Fortress was the Theldesian equivalent of Goryōkaku castle in Hokkaido, a star shaped fortress that had been built in the age of gunpowder. Instead of relying on height to increase the range of catapults, it had instead been built to provide defensive fortifications that allowed as broad an opportunity as opposable to make use of guns and cannons. The ground was flat as could be, the views unrestricted, the walls provided strong defensive screens yet would not be overly obstructive to those who sought to attack from behind them. In Theldesia behind the walls the maze could be shifted due to the ancient Alven mechanism within and the fortifications included a series of indestructible, unmovable crystals which reduced the cool-down times of ranged techniques used by defenders by a full quarter; they also provided devastating support against aerial opponents, allowing defenders to become more accurate and their range increasing significantly – so while it was possible to observe from far above outside of range, the Griffins would not be able to take part without paying a heavy penalty.

In many ways it was unfortunate that Tranquil Territory lacked a large proportion of ranged attackers – sorcerers in particular, though summoners and enchanters to a lesser extent. It was merely that this sort of composition had been favoured in their previous role-plays, the group had generally built up a more defensive mix, strong tanks, capable healers and versatile support – that was how Tranquil Territory rolled. In truth, taking stardust fortress did not rely heavily on ranged attacks – indeed one needed to close distance as quickly as possible and to take down the ranged defenders as a matter of priority. However with insufficient ranged classes of their own, holding the fortress would be far less easy; it was a calculated move and one that Tranquil Territory could never hope to accomplish on their own. After the raid tonight, everything would change.

* * *

Behind him fluttered the green and blue mitsudomoe (a three-pronged green whirl shape on a blue background) the banner proudly proclaiming his Feudal Challenge even without him needing to select the option from the menu. Now the local zone controller knew he was there and his intention to take over the fortress, but it was an essential part of the process. In fairness Hachiman realised, as he double checked the last of his gear, were the twenty-four most capable warriors to have been chosen he may not have counted among their number.

Of the sixty-five who had made their way to stardust hold forty-nine were level ninety, having been formed more than ten years earlier it was a remarkably high level guild; only ten were under level forty and the remaining six were around level sixty. Of the forty-nine, only half had previous high level raid experience – theirs was not a guild that focused on such things, so there was a surprising number of their members who had never attempted let alone completed a high level raid. Indeed, it was not necessarily the twenty four best who were chosen, the class balance was very nearly as important, as was the characters' previous experience in similar raids; they were lucky enough that Athena had previously even taken part in an Castle Blitz an event which included a raid on stardust fortress, though it had not been part of a campaign waged by Tranquil Territory.

As the group stormed the star-shaped fortifications, Tyr and Aja rode their mount in the skies above – they were not part of the attack directly this time, instead they bore the vital responsibility of providing the force with as much intelligence as they could. The shielding barriers were quickly set up just before the tanks entered into the enlarged range of the defenders – skeletal bows and necromantic magical energies streaking out towards the mounted force. Shields failed and were hastily recast as the battle mounts steadily covered the ground, bringing the tanks into taunting range just before the rest of the raid entered the enlarged firing range behind unleashing a barrage of attacks and refreshing the Tank's defences and declining health. Timing was everything in managing aggro, and so it was that the strategy Athena devised carefully involved scheduling just how heavily each group would attack so as to prevent the tanks from losing the aggro of their opponents.

Her careful planning had always been invaluable, the twenty-four chosen for the assault were split into four groups, two teams of four, one of six and one of ten. The two groups of four each cleared away the enemy immediately within the gates even as the ten fanned out into a V shaped wedge and charged down the central lane, the six buffered behind them as they breached the maze entrance, even as the two groups of four fell in behind them to secure the rear. They had managed to breach the outer walls and enter the maze relying on little more than speed and timing; while the defenders had been able to deal out much more damage than usual, the significantly lower level of the skeleton defenders was simply insufficient to thwart their advance, even with the buff they were given by the feudal system.

It was always easier to attack when the defenders were not other players, the skeletons simply lacked the ability to adapt to their tactics in time. The same would not work nearly so well in the shifting maze, this section required that the force be deployed in such a way that they could easily separate into well balanced groups based on who was near them at the time and proceed through the maze in their own little groups. Though they entered as a single block, by the time they passed through the maze there were five groups at the rendezvous site, the fighting had been much fiercer now, no longer had they been able to simply rely on punching through they had instead been forced to fight against the undead defenders who clung to their duty with unmatched zeal. It was here that Tyr and Aja's role become undeniably central, assisting the groups negotiating the maze to find the shortest and least dangerous paths and to warn them of danger. As the last of the parties rejoined the main group they spent a moment healing and recasting buffs, distributing potions and recovering magic.

Before the raiding party lay their destination, the beautiful Japanese styled multiple storied castle that formed the core of stardust hold; around it lay the next barrier, one that only appeared if the fortress was held by the undead, a circle called "Hell's Gate", this nasty little barrier would spawn dozens of tiny portals from which an unending stream of undead would appear eventually building in number until no raiding party would ever be able to overcome them.

The only way to deal with this was to first enter the castle and then bar the main doors, because the windows were indestructible, only two other ways could be used to enter the castle, two servants entries, one on either end of the castle. This would be the duty of the two small teams – the entries could not be closed but provided that one had a strong tank and two good healers, one could hold one of the doors with just three people, provided that no attempt was made to advance and that retreating through the servant quarters was done very slowly. The two groups would need to buy no less than four minutes while falling back at the same speed, if either group fell back too quickly the other group would be surrounded and quickly fall and this would prevent the eight from providing a suitable vanguard and they would fight a retreating action for as long as it took for the zone controller to fall.

As the raiding party set forwards once more they mounted again, in the maze they had been forced to dismount as horses were unsuited to the close and twisting confines yet here in this open space they were perfectly suited. The two four man teams each advanced one to either side of the main group just as they crossed the threshold of Hell's gate the entire raiding party burst into a gallop, around them there was a crushing force and the squealing, screeching sound of the undead portals distorting the air, darkening everything they touched as behind them skeletons began assembling from the collection of bones that began to spew from the openings. Hachiman shook his reigns and nudged his warhorse as if to gain more speed out of the poor animal, though he should well have known the well trained steed was giving it her all. Even as the two groups of eight disappeared around the sides of the building and were lost from his sight, he was beginning to draw his horse to a stop, the iron shod hooves sounding strange almost unnatural on the remains of the carpet which lined the entry hall. The handful of undead defenders were brushed aside by the ten who proceeded Hachiman's group of six and they were pushing further into the room, engaged in systematically crushing the defenders even as Hachiman dismounted and he too threw his back into closing the main doors of the building, barring the way of the hoard of undead that were even now lumbering towards them.

As the bar was thrown into place, Hachiman quickly jumped out of the way as one of the Guardian's knocked down a statue in front of the door and a second quickly followed suit. That would hold the little blighters here for a time, allowing the groups on the side to protect their flank unmolested. Two icy spirits manifested before the doors, the summoners had decided to leave behind these twin behemoths behind, it was a spell that would last five minutes if they were not destroyed and they slowed the movement of all enemies in range, potentially freezing them in place. His face set in determination, Hachiman started up the stairs, following the leading group even as the sounds of battle echoed back from the next level.

* * *

The fight that followed was a chaotic mess, after the lead group cleared out the throne room there was a delay, when a Feudal Challenge was active, only the challenger could directly damage the zone controller, that meant that only Hachiman would be able to harm the boss of this area – not only that, but only six attackers and only six defenders could be present at any one time during the encounter.

Down the stairs the battle raged and the lead group of ten had retreated there to support the two four man teams and to allow the better rested group of six to take on the zone controller and their support without interruption. Were the undead horde to make it to the challenger they would be able to enter the throne room and the raid would be annihilated, normally no one would be able to enter the throne room once the challenger and zone controller joined battle if it were to take the number of combatants on that side to more than six, but those that came from Hell's Gate were immune from that rule.

Littered with bones, the floor of the throne room provided a stunning backdrop, the six ruined statues of goddesses that lined the walls seemed to beseech the empty throne even as a scorching hot whirlwind blew harmlessly past Hachiman and began to gather bones quickly resolving into the towering form of the Demonic Undead General, the default zone controller of Stardust Fortress. To either side of him two black tears in the air formed and on each side resolved a lich and a skeletal giant. These five were the final confrontation of stardust fortress, the giants would continue to reanimate as long as the Lich were present and the Lich would heal everyone, especially each-other, were either of the Lich destroyed then the general could summon another – the sixth member of their 'party' was the Hell's Gate itself, which was why it was able to send as many minions as it wanted into the battle.

It was a particularly annoying battle and one with a time limit imposed by Hell's Gate. Yet for this, Hachiman's rather curious production grade weapon was the answer – it was a top class production item, yet it had lower than normal stats, instead Hachiman's immense double handed sword, the black bladed nodachi would inflict two debuffs, the first would reduce reduce the effect of any attempt to replenish the health or magic of the afflicted foe and the second triggered on a critical hit which prevents cleansing for thirty seconds.

With the general's healing curtailed and his defence being shaved away, before long even Hachiman's lower than standard attack power began to become increasingly devastating and after just under ten minutes the general fell.

* * *

**Chapter Notes:**

Yes I added some detail to how a direct conflict between the challenger and zone controller would have to go down the reason being was because I felt it too simplistic and this would encourage a greater degree of strategy.

Assertion: Courier role-play subclass (exists but unspecified) a role play subclass which provides a movement speed buff and provides access to courier missions – a series of time missions with the potential to earn gold or resources. Activating movement speed buff decreases the power of offensive or healing abilities.


	5. Birdcage

**Tranquil Territory - 4 - The Birdcage**

With the general defeated silence had fallen on stardust fortress, the undead had collapsed and then dissolved, the magical energies that had fuelled them gone with the malignant general.

Among the loot that the general had dropped was a phoenix in a cage; but when Hachiman had freed the creature it simply flew away without a second look back, eager to escape the iron confines which had robbed it of its freedom, Athena had complained bitterly at that, but Hachiman could shake the feeling that even if it had not dropped any item, it had left behind something invaluable. Inspiration. He had taken good care of the simple wrought iron cage, though it appeared to have no distinguishing feature now that its spectacular prisoner had been freed.

The Feudal zone of Tranquil Territory under the Feudal Lord Hachiman had been formed once more; the Tranquil Territory had been established in the southern reaches of the Ezzo Empire. In the days that followed reconstruction efforts began in earnest and Yasuo and his fellow players reached out to their friends in the north; seeking to gather those they could for a summit on the northern bank of the Lyport channel. As figures from the various role-play guilds began to arrive in Stardust; he was able to sway many of them to his cause.

Heated words were exchanged when he made it clear that in his efforts to save the people of the land from adventurers, even were it to directly infringe on a player's role-playing experience; for many the idea that the treatment of landers might be sufficiently important to curtail their own behaviour was fundamentally unwelcome. Not all role-players were about 'playing hero' every character had their own tale to tell, some were heroic and uplifting, others complex and dark, some were malicious and cruel, each character had their own history and their own motivations. To ask the role-players to curb their characters impulses were they to negatively effect the people of the land was something that just did not seem to feel right, yet to fail to do so was to ignored the immensity of their predicament in having been transported to the world of Theldesia; the people were so real – it was a fact no role-player could overlook; yet even still, how many could simply decide to suspend their character's behaviours and habits, their hopes and dreams – as if it was all 'simply an act'. A non role-player may have struggled to understand it, but for many role-players stuck in Theldesia, their characters had taken on a level of substance that made them impossible to simply dismiss.

Yet at the same time, he received support from a surprising source, Echo, the level ninety vampire well known for his bloodthirsty ways had simply stopped, indeed he did not even want to be called Echo anymore, instead asking to be called Naoto. He had strongly pressed for his fellow more destructive role-players to take a more out of character approach; it was an appeal that had mixed success. Indeed even as there were those that refused to guarantee that they would not attack the people of the land, Hachiman countered by refusing to guarantee he would not use his out of character knowledge.

The threat of meta-gaming (of accessing knowledge that Yasuo knew as a player but that there was no way that Hachiman as a character should know) was enough to raise the ire of many – even of his allies; the ungainly trespass on etiquette was intentional however and he stuck to his guns arguing that the landers might deserve their protection more than a role-player deserved the right to victimize them in the name of staying in character.

It was a far from amiable debate and lasted many hours, and though few agreed to become Hachiman's vassals many said they might assist were it possible to arrange in character. Others could not assist, but did agree not to interfere, there were still others who would not commit one way or another. Though only roughly one and a half-dozen agreed to become vassals, several score more agreed to provide support to their cause, in truth it had been far more successful than Hachiman had anticipated. It was a predictably rocky encounter and Hachiman knew that this was far from the last he had heard of it; particularly from those who had created and nurtured their characters over years and were not convinced of the potential ability of the Landers to experience suffering.

* * *

Several days later they received word that Brigandia had received a major blow; courtesy of a band of adventurers from Akihabara led by the villainous Shiroe. Hachiman was amazed, according to the report perhaps only four characters had challenged the Brigandia leader and had prevailed. The truth was that even with his nodachi, Hachiman had very much doubted that Tranquil Territory could have managed to form a six man team capable of the same feat; the number in Brigandia dwarfed them and he doubted they could manage to puncture the massive array of healers and support that Brigandia's second in command, the main brain of the operation, had managed to construct.

The fall of their most senior members was a major blow to the perception of Brigandia and helped to lessen their hold on Susukino, because they would all resurrect it was mainly a cosmetic blow – or it would have been were it not for rumours of internal conflict that had since arisen. Instead Brigandia's influence had been greatly diminished and Hachiman was left wondering if he had done the right thing by moving so far to the south. He had needed to be hear to provide a buffer, allowing him to strike against their forces were they to attempt to move south, it would also allow him a commanding position with relation to the Lyport channel. But the flip side was the distance it put between him and Susukino made it more difficult to take advantage of the situation; though he did send several of his trusted associates (mainly those whom Loki suggested) back to Susukino to assist those who had remained behind. The more troubling aspect however was that the attacks on the surrounding towns and villages did not decrease.

Since the formation of the Tranquil Territory feudal zone, they had been busy securing influence in the surrounding populated zones, completing quests and defending against monster and adventurer attacks; this increased the loyalty of the local people and Tranquil Territory had been spreading to cover the bottom half of the peninsula, edging closer towards Susukino. Yet the sudden changes slowed their progress in Susukino and less than two weeks later in Akihabara changed all that.

When news arrived of the establishment of the round table in Akihabara it was accompanied by news that those who had been kicked out of the city were routinely harassing villages in the region and that this had been becoming more and more violent. Yet the reaction from the people in the peninsula was that things were changing for the better and perhaps they did not need Tranquil Territory's protection after all.

The words that Hachiman had been forwarded from the Round Table had failed to fill him with any sense of hope that the situation would improve for the people he had sworn to protect – though it was a remarkable benefit to adventurers and those living in the city and though the idea of recognising that Landers had rights appealed to him;their decisions had done nothing to improve the lot of the people of the land outside of their city.

All they had managed to achieve was to push all those adventurers who failed to play ball into the country side – where they would continue their reign of terror on the much weaker Landers virtually unopposed. Fresh reports came in frequently about villages burned, people murdered without reason and women assaulted. How would the round table deal with that? Oh well they had only been formed to look after Akihabara. Hachiman gritted his teeth in anger; even were the Silver Sword (who had apparently relocated many of their members to Susukino) to follow suit, how would that prevent the suffering of the People of the Land?

The paper containing the most recent reports of violence in central and northern Eastal crumpled in Hachiman's hands. The Ezzo Empire was still to launch any effective action to protect their people from the Adventurers in their midst while the round table in Akihabara had barely seemed to even acknowledge the problems – it was created for players and the way that they considered death to be a lesser crime than imprisonment was based on the idea that they were immortal; the same was simply not so for People of the Land and everything that Hachiman had heard reinforced that. He was however more than interested in how the extension of the rights to Landers had occurred in the first place; it was a step he had never expected. Perhaps with some adjustments the round table might provide some real legal protections to people of the land but as it was, they had merely turfed out their trouble-makers on the doorstep of those unable to protect themselves from the vastly more powerful Adventurers.

* * *

Among those that had come (and stayed) during the summit was Byakko a rather infamous swashbuckler known for his fearless and relentless style, his conviction to punish all who would break the law – the character of Yasuo's brother Yukio. Hachiman had invited his Byakko for a cup of wine, delivered by the industrious Loki and the two brothers were alone in Hachiman's quarters.

Hachiman sat the empty iron birdcage down on the table before his brother's chair, "What do you think of my solution Byakko?"

"What are you talking about?" Yukio replied with a puzzled tone. What was the solution and what problem did it solve? The cage and the accompanying inquiry his brother made were seemed without any sort of relation to the silence that had hung between them since discussing the horrible attacks that had been occurring around Susukino. Even were the attackers killed, they would only return again after a brief trip to the cathedral – those who had not fled were preyed on relentlessly.

"Why to Brigandia and their ilk of course." Hachiman reached forward and with one knuckle rapped on the cage.

After a sudden moment of realisation Byakko's eyes narrowed and then he shook his head in resignation, "Impossible. Even if you were able to trap them, they could simply use Call of Home or kill themselves." He was right of course, whether as Byakko or Yukio, he could easily see the problems in such a system; the only problem as Hachiman saw it was that he lacked vision.

"If we adventurers are immortal then just like the phoenix, a suitable cage must be prepared." Hachiman said as he turned his back and spoke over his shoulder as he exited to the battlements, "I meant for all of Susukino. I will ring her in magic and steel such as Theldesia has never before seen.." His brother made a choking sound, yet Yasuo did not hear it Hachiman's steps carried him forward out towards the snow, the lander guards that protected him following suit as he store onto the icy battlements; behind him Byakko managed to collect his wits and set off in pursuit.

* * *

**Chapter Notes:**

This brings us to the scene in the prelude; the story has now progressed through the same period as Log Horizon up until shortly after the foundation of the Round Table.


	6. Data File: Feudal System

**Tranquil Territory - Data File - Feudal System**

This document has been compiled to examine the proposed system in Elder Tales for the Feudal Lord subclass as envisaged for use in the Tranquil Territory Fanfic. The purpose of this system (from the fanfic's perspective) is to significantly emphasize on local community involvement and a platform to investigate changes in social framework, examine the relationship between those with power and those without and to allow the group to establish a base of operations.

Also, providing this document allows readers to determine what I am talking about in the Tranquil Territory fanfic, without becoming frustrated that I am making it up as I go along (since I am putting it out at the start).

**Proposed Elder Tales Purpose:**

Encourages role-playing and social interaction – also creates a basis for competition between groups over limited zone ownership.

**Terminology:**

Fealty Event - When a local NPC declares loyalty or fealty, securing that NPC's support and their influence

Home Zone - Zone where the Feudal Territory is based and Feudal Lord subclass functions can be performed without penalty.

Territory Challenge - A state of war between the Zone controller and a challenger

Zone Controller: the individual (Feudal Lord, NPC Nobility, Area Boss etc) who is assigned dominion over the zone.

**Character Requirements:**

Feudal Lord is a subclass that must be unlocked by:

Retrieval of the bind on pickup very rare drop 'Proof of Nobility' (found in level 80+ zones with a library); or

Becoming a vassal of a Feudal Lord and swearing fealty, then being bestowed the title (breaking fealty in this case results in the subclass level being lowered by 10 levels and a permanent reduction in the rate at which loyalty to you increases but a boost at the rate which it decreases).

**Territory Requirements:**

To set up a seat of power, the territory of every Feudal Lord requires a home zone in which the majority of the administrative functions of the system can be accessed (accessing these from elsewhere incurs a penalty). Only certain zones can be secured as the Feudal Home zone, they must have a central humanoid structure (such as a castle or fortress) pre-Apocalypse there were only twenty-one of these on the Japanese server (mainly in the Ezzo Empire and the Ninetails Dominion).

The Home Zone can be changed to any controlled potential home zone, but only if the Feudal Lord is present at the destination.

The skill Call to Home can be used to travel to the Feudal Home zone.

**Territory Challenge and Expansion**

Certain NPCs and Boss level creatures as well as Feudal Lords can declare a 'Territory Challenge ' against a Zone Controller, allowing entry and skill use in zones owned by any member of that Feudal System (in return for the same) this can only be cancelled with the agreement of both parties.

It is possible to seize control of the zone by force, defeating the current ruler and their minions within the zone; however this does not alter the loyalty of the inhabitants of the zone (if there are any). Because loyalty does not alter instantly, it is possible for subjects to retain their loyalty towards a supplanted lord (though this may wane in time). If the locals were discontent with the previous government, overthrowing them will result in a temporary increase in contentment and loyalty – however if they were content the reverse will occur.

Territory Challenge also allows fealty events to be accepted without penalty; accepting a fealty event without being in a territory event provides the opposing faction an additional buff and commences a Territory Challenge.

Even without a Territory Challenge , any zone which is able to act as a Feudal Home, has high levels of discontent or extremely low loyalty; or is adjacent to a controlled zone and does not have a current Zone Controller be expanded into and loyalty can begin to be accrued.

When sufficient loyalty has been obtained by a Feudal Lord, this can trigger 'fealty events', where important local individuals (including mayors) swear loyalty to the Feudal Lord – if sufficient influence is obtained with such individuals (about 1/3) supporting the challenger it will trigger an official change in zone control to disputed, effectively negating defender's buffs and halving the effectiveness of efforts by the Zone Controller to gain loyalty. If this support becomes substantial (2/3) then official zone control will be transferred to the former challenger.

**Administering Feudal Zones:**

Local populations in a zone require many things of their lords, the general classifications include: Defence, Infrastructure, Justice and Disaster Relief. More advanced needs include economic policies, social services, health and education, the amount of skill to provide these services requires a high subclass level and because of their cost (which can potentially exceed income) many Feudal Lords avoid these even when the option is available.

Events and quests about these will arise randomly depending on population and size of zones controlled. Completing quests alters contentment and loyalty levels, this is particularly true where it concerns requests that a vassal be held to account for their perceived actions.

To do their duties, a Feudal Lord may:

Accept Vassals, reward/discipline them, fire them, delegate authority to them

Commission buildings and public works as well as staff them

Train and Equip a militia

Establish the Law

Efficiency and effectiveness of these efforts are limited by the subclass level of the Feudal Lord and the degree of loyalty in the zone that the event will occur. It is also reduced if either the Feudal Lord or the Event are not in the home zone and reduced further if not in one of the feudal system's zones. They were also required to give help to local groups (often requiring donations or labour) and to hold hearings and uphold the law (occasionally involving allegations against player characters) – these were more event based and highly time sensitive.

Task complexity has greatly increased post-Apocalypse, for example the Law was one of six sets of legal frameworks, it is now however possible for a sufficiently skilled Feudal Lord to customise.

**Subclass Effects**

Provides Major buff/de-buff to Feudal Lord; Moderate buff/de-buff to Vassals; Slight to Subjects. - The size of this buff/de-buff depends on the level of loyalty of the Feudal Zones (in particular the current zone) and is limited based on the Feudal Lord's subclass level.

Provides Buffs to Zone Defenders - Any faction in combat in a feudal controlled zone obtains a bonus based on the unpopularity of their opponents. If Fealty Events were accepted before the Territory Challenge , this buff is increased.

Subordinate Openness - A Zone owned by a member of a Feudal System cannot restrict entry or skill use by a superior.


	7. Data File: Role-playing in Elder Tales

**Tranquil Territory - Data File - Assumptions about Role-playing in ET**

This document has been compiled to examine some of the assumptions and assertions I have made with regards to the nature of role-playing in Elder Tales (and examines what the concepts of Role Playing actually entail, things like out of character, in character and the difference between a role player and a regular player.

**Pre-Apocalypse**

Prior to the release of Novasphere Pioneers, Elder Tales had included a series of individuals and communities who focused on immersive role-playing, this meant that these players when controlling their characters attempted to act in a way that would fit the character that they had created, that character's personality and back story, their attitudes and motivations were dependant on the character – not the player which controlled that character. Much like an actor disappearing into the role they were cast in; the role player disappears as their character takes on life.

However there are times when the player lurking in the background needed to address other players, such as to refer to subjects not related to the characters; when going on a break, when asking for clarifications and more. For this there exists 'Out Of Character' or OOC, a way of differentiating character from player (in their words and deeds) – this is a symbol of the stark divide between the Role Player and the mere Player since those gamers who do not don the role of their characters had no understanding of OOC because they made no particular efforts to speak 'In Character' or IC.

In Elder Tales, there were a large number of text and voice channels, the majority were de-facto OOC channels – as most players were not role players they talked OOC all the time. Other channels for dedicated role players were only for IC comments. Still others channels allowed both IC and OOC comments though users were expected to indicate when they used the later. It was an essential means by which to ensure the integrity of immersion that role players seek.

Role-players in Elder Tales had long since adopted the Vesica Piscis as their symbol; two circles side by side which overlapped; one circle represented the Player, one the Character; it was this symbol which came to be central to those of the role play community in the days that followed the Apocalypse to overcome a new hurdle.

**Post-Apocalypse**

Among all the various types of players, role players had potentially been among those most able to adjust to the Apocalypse – the unparalleled level of immersion and world complexity facilitated a level of role-playing that most had never considered. That also made the sudden shift from IC to OOC all the more jarring and unwelcome to many role players.

While telepathy allowed them to communicate as once they had – role-players were faced with one more problem when meeting another role player in Elder Tales after the Apocalypse; how was one able to indicate that they wished to speak Player to Player and not as Characters?

Many role players merely began speaking out of character or saying that phrase (much as they would have typed it in the past) – yet in that amazingly impressive world that they had been transported to, the jarring clash of player and character that such behaviour caused was so significant that many of the more active role play guilds quickly called around and managed to agree on a simple sign that would allow a player to recognise when the individual before them was speaking as a player rather than a character.

The overlapping circles were a common part of the symbol used by many RP guilds, and there were a host of cosmetic items (objects with no features that distinguish them other than their appearance) that were based on the design. Particularly common were interlocking rings that were worn by many role players. Common ways to wear the symbol include:

As a double ring, necklace ornament or piercing

As the clasp of a necklace, cape, belt or similar

As a design on clothing or on a weapon inscription

Now that symbol had been commandeered – it was agreed by the majority of the RP guilds that when wanting to speak OOC in the presence of other role players, one should try to draw attention to this symbol by touching it unambiguously. In this way one could draw attention to the circles representing character and player and in doing so indicate that one was going to bridge that gap.

Because role players are generally a close-knit community (even despite their differences); almost all the approximately three thousand role players on the Japanese server were advised of the agreement and as such breaches of this guideline are considered a breach of etiquette.

In addition, references to the world outside of Elder Tales have become even less common and more unwelcome among role players, whether due to increased role-playing immersion and intensity or trying to avoid discussing problems that may have occurred in the outside world is unclear.


End file.
